22

Kageyama couldn't emphasize how much he hated hospitals at this point.

Almost all his nightmares these days involved the setting being at a hospital on a rainy day.

Sugawara wouldn't tell him why he was angry, and he just seemed to sulk the entire way there.

The hospital wasn't too far from Karasuno High, and is close enough for a 20-minute walk from Kageyama's home. The walk there was already engraved in his brain- all the turns and roads to cross. He could probably sleep-walk his way there.

The hospital is a tall and wide grey building, and it was obviously very busy. People were rushing in and out of the front doors. Today was particularly hectic.

Kageyama tried his best not to lose sight of Suga, or bump into anyone. He made his way to the stairs, because the elevators were too occupied.

"Woooah!" A rather high-pitched voice exclaimed. "You're so tall!"

"Huh?" Kageyama looked around and didn't see anyone until he looked lower.

"Are you an athlete?" the voice belonged to a young boy, who seemed rather strong and athletic himself.

"Uh yeah."

"A basketball player?"

"No, I play volleyball." Kageyama's eyes quickly shot towards Suga for help. He wasn't at all use to talking to children, especially ones of such young age.

"Wow! I met someone who played volleyball too! But he was really short."

Suga chuckled, humorlessly, as he was blatantly ignored. But he couldn't resist the little boy's charm. For an asian, it was quite rare for someone to have such rare eyes (unless you're an anime character), but the boy had beautiful hazel eyes.

"What's your names?"

"Are you a volleyball player too, Sugawara-san?"

Sugawara nodded. "What's yours?"

"Satou Fukui!" The energy inside the boy seemed to be endless.

"Hey, Fu-chan!" An older boy, about Kageyama's height rushed over. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Talking to these guys!" Fukui said excitedly.

"You need to stop running off okay?" the older boy said, exasperated. "Remember the last time you ran off, and I told you specifically to never do that again?"

"But I met Shouyou-san that time! Weren't you glad I did?"

All three of the boys had an immediate reaction to the name like the word was a taboo.

"Hinata?"

"Oh... yeah do you guys know him too?"

"Yeah he's... our middle blocker." Immediately, Kageyama was embarrassed at the strange way he described him. Maybe he wanted to sound possessive or just simply say he played volleyball with them.

"You guys must be from Karasuno!" the older boy said. "I'm Satou Noboru, I'm sorry about my brother."

The brothers had a striking resemblance in one way yet so different from another. They were both rather unrealistically good-looking, even Fukui despite being so young. Fukui had a buzz-cut, similar to that of soldiers, while Noboru's hair stood up in the front, and he had the typical popular-kid cut.

The colour of their eyes were the same yet the feel to them were nearly opposite. Fukui's pair betrayed his age- young and innocent. They always had an excitement and thrill to them

But to Noboru's eyes, there was hint of darkness. It was like that behind his eyes there was something else. Even when he was smiling, his eyes looked... sad.

Kageyama was still on the defensive. "How do you know Hinata?"

"He's a family friend," Satou said thoughtfully. "Are you coming to visit him?"

Suga and Kageyama nodded simultaneously.

"If so, then I'm glad it worked."

"What worked?"

"Oh, I called the paramedics on him."

"You what!?" Suga exclaimed. The older boy looked startled at Suga's outburst, but quickly nodded.

"Yeah, he was really hurt and refused to go to the hospital."

Suga cursed and faced away from the two. The third-year had been completely out of character the entire the day.

"Thanks for looking out for him." Kageyama said genuinely. He started to shift away.

"No problem, Kageyama."

The first-year stopped dead in his tracks. "I don't remember telling you my name."

"So I was right!"

"You what?"

"You are him! Man, the world is a small place."

"I- what!?" This Satou guy was really confusing Kageyama to no end.

"Let's continue this conversation later?" Suga urged, as he checked his phone for the time. "Satou-san, are you not visiting Hinata?"

Satou shook his head. "Don't think he wants to see me. But I'm sure he'll want to see you Kageyama."

He chuckled as he saw Kageyama's puzzled expression. Without anymore words, the boys went to their respective destinations.

When they reached the room, Kageyama checked the number again. Room 310. It was the same room as he was in last time.

There was talking inside the room, and they were voices of various people. Suga carefully opened the door.

There seemed to be disagreement among the volleyball players, and Kageyama could read it off their faces. He was becoming more like Suga and Tsukishima.

He scanned the familiar faces. Daichi, Yamaguchi, Ennoshita, Kuroo, and Kenma. It was a strange combination of people. They exchanged glances and trudged out.

"Hey," Kageyama said with the softest tone he could muster.

Just his presence and existence somehow was like an assurance that everything was going to be alright. But not actually between them.

He sat down across from Hinata.

"How was your day?"

"Trashy," Hinata replied.

"I saw someone named Satou Noboru on my way here, he claims he's your family friend."

Hinata sighed. "Yeah"

"He also says he called the paramedics on you."

"I told him not to."

"Why?"

"Didn't want to disappoint you guys again."

"When have you ever disappointed us?" This came out a little bit too aggressive then it should have.

"Ever since that day, I started limping around the gym," Hinata responded with just as much aggression. "Nothing has ever been the same!"

"You have never once, let us down, except now when you refused to contact us about you being hurt again!"

"Because I hate it! I hate being hurt, I just want life to go back to how it was."

Kageyama frowned. "Well that's not going to happen!"

"Let me play," Hinata raised his voice. "Tell the team, I don't care if it's the last games of my life."

"No."

"Why?" Hinata was practically shouting. "The only purpose I have is for us to win! That's what you said!"

"You're turning my words against me," Kageyama growled. "I said you don't have to be ace, you're a decoy and you're there to score points. That is not your only purpose in life. That was a long time ago!"

Hinata sat up as tall as possible, even though it was no match for Kageyama's towering height. "What else can I do? What am I worth? I turned away everyone who's close to me including Satou. I've been avoiding you guys as much as possible."

"You're worth everything to us, and we can't do without you!" The more the fury burned inside him the closer he got to Hinata.

"That's why I need to be in game," Hinata reasoned. "Put me in and I'll use my legs to the fullest."

"Do you think you can use your legs?"

"Yes!" the middle blocker exclaimed.

"That's a flat out lie and you know it." Kageyama's fists were clenched. He was basically right in Hinata's face.

"Why would you care about my well being?" Hinata snapped. "You should care about winning, winning receiving, tossing, spiking by yourself, you're all that!"

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

Kageyama's eyes bored into Hinata's. The stare was intense but neither of them could look away now. To him, Hinata was just the only person that mattered at all to him at the moment. His warm and welcoming brown eyes, made his heart race.

He frowned and it was almost threatening and he could tell that Hinata was slightly scared that he was mad.

But he bent over and softly placed his lips on those of the redhead. His mouth was so warm and softer than anything he could imagine.

He was ultimately reminded of their first kiss. They were softly lured together and the atmosphere was light. But this time they were both desperate and were in the middle of a heated argument.

Suddenly as if he was burned, Hinata pulled away. He shifted backwards, not meeting his eyes.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"No, I.. I don't know." Hinata stammered.

"Shouldn't have done that." Kageyama repeated absolutely flustered.

The taste of Hinata's mouth still lingered, and Kageyama didn't know how to feel. He wasn't sure how or why he had the courage to do such but it was almost irresistible.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same anymore."

He was reminded that Hinata stated that he no longer liked him. The setter stumbled backwards awkwardly, and just kept the distance trying his best not to make eye contact.

Wordlessly, Hinata slowly got up. And tried his best to gain balance. Slowly but surely, he walked towards Kageyama and closed the distance between them. He held his arms out and gently wrapped them around the setter.

"I'm sorry."

A/N: Happy new year!(Yikes ik im late, you guys deserve better, but honestly Wattpad has been going under maintenance a lot and it's super annoying. It's been shitty all day, you might have noticed.) Thought I'd treat y'all to a new chapter ;) these days I have very low motivation but maybe the new year will change that.

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

"I'd rather lose the Nationals than lose you."

:')